The South Carolina Gamecocks will be without Jeep Hunter as the safeties coach in 2012. He has been relieved of his duties after just completing his third season with the team.

Hunter had been the safeties coach in 2011 and the two years prior to that, he was the tight ends coach as well as an assistant special teams coordinator.

This came out of nowhere for us, the fans, and Humer himself as Josh Kendall of The State tweeted that “Hunter was returning from a recruiting trip and in the airport when… Spurrier called to tell him he was fired.”

Wow….there has to be more to this story…..

In a statement from USC, head coach Steve Spurrier ”indicated that he felt the team needed a more experienced secondary coach and has decided to go in that direction.” Yet this direction is not known as of this writing.

“We wish Coach Hunter and his family the very best,” said Coach Spurrier.

No reason for the dismissal has been given as of yet.

Hunter becomes the fifth assistant to leave the staff since the end of the season. The others were running backs coach Jay Graham, special teams coordinator and spur safety coach John Butler, linebackers coach and defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson and strength coordinator Craig Fitzgerald.

So what does it mean for USC to lose Jeep Hunter?

In the LOHD view, not a whole lot. Yeah it sucks to see this much turnover on the coaching staff after 11 wins but things like this happen in today’s college football world. Losing Hunter will not hurt USC except from a PR side for awhile. Hunter did a good job but it seems Spurrier wants a more experienced coach to help with the Coach Ward, which is understandable. Hunter was not the know-all-be-all on the recruiting trail so don’t fret in that arena. USC should be able to find a coach to help in the secondary very soon. But with the news of losing Hunter, we go back to what we have said for years now….trust Spurrier.